4 OPINION Page 4 Monday, November 23, 1987 The Michigan Daily 4 Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Crime or duty: Israeli debate Vol. XCVIII, No. 53 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. Give 'Tell S omeone' teeth THE DECISION BY University ad- ministrators to hire legal counsel for two women named in a slander suit filed by a visiting professor accused of sexual assault should be com- mended. This action would pre- serve the integrity of the Univer- sity's "Tell Someone" campaign about sexual assault, whereas the University Board of Regents' in- struction to the Executive Officers to reconsider this decision under- mines the University sponsored campaign. Thomas Rosenboom, a Dutch author and writer-in-residence at the University, has been charged by a woman student with fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Kata Is- sari, a counselor at the Sexual As- sault Prevention and Awareness Center, made two telephone calls to Rosenboom's employer, the chair of Germanic Languages Depart- ment, to discuss the incident of al- leged harassment. Rosenboom is now charging the student and Issari with slander. He is seeking $10,000 to compensate for emo- tional distress and damage done to his reputation. The Affirmative Action Office's "Tell Someone" campaign, publi- cized by posters around campus, is designed to encourage all members of the University community to in- form University authorities about incidents of sexual or racial harass- ment. It is encouraging that John Ketelhut, the University attorney who decided to hire legal counsel for the women in consultation with other University administrators, recognized the University's obliga- tion to protect individuals who use this grievance procedure from such civil suits. The regents so far have failed to recognize this obligation. At their meeting Friday, several regents suggested that paying for legal de- fenses of students and employees would set a costly precedent. The regents should be willing to set a precedent of protecting members of the University community from racial and sexual harassment. If the regents do not, then students or employees, who follow University policy in reporting sexual assault or racial harassment, will pay the price in court. The regents' hesitation to provide these women with University sup- port sends a very clear message to all potential victims and assaulters: if the victim does "Tell Someone," he or she may only be invoking the psychological abuse of a slander suit, and will have to stand alone. The regents instructed the Execu- tive Officers to evaluate the decision to defend the two women and sug- gest a comprehensive policy for the future; the Executive Officers should establish a policy that man- dates University legal support for individuals (and the counselors in- volved) who use the "Tell Some- one" program. A coherent statement is needed by the administration to prevent the threat of civil suits to intimidate assault victims into drop- ping charges. It should not be left to the University attorney to person- ally assess the legitimacy of a complaint. Clearly, it is possible that some will use "Tell Someone" to make malicious accusations. The validity of an accusation is decided in the criminal and civil courts, however. To preserve the effectiveness of "Tell Someone," the University should be willing to defend all students and employees who use the program. In September of 1986, Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu disclosed un- reported information about Israel's atomic weapons program to the "The Sunday Times" in London. Soon after the "Sunday Times" article on October S, Vanunu was discovered missing. On November 9 Israeli authorities announced that they h ad "apprehended" him for espionage. In De- cember, Vanunu informed journalists in a message written on the palm of his hand that he had been abducted in Rome by Israel's Secret Service and brought to Israel. Va- nunu is awaiting trial in a maximum-secu- rity Israeli jail, under charges of aggravated espionage, helping an enemy in wartime and disclosing state secrets. His brother, Meir Vanunu, is traveling throughout the United States and Europe to publicize his brother's case. He spoke recently with Opinion Page staffer Gayle Kirshenbaum. .y y >r Dialogue. Daily: What is your brother's present legal status? Vanunu: His preliminary trial on Au- gust 30 of this year was one of closed doors, e inws comp y c t. No lowed. Amnesty International asked to place an observer in the court room, but their re- quest was refused... .The courts have used the Eichmann case as precedent for justifying the kidnapping, but the govermentn stood by him in the trial and ready to shut .w . his mouth, which the Israeli press reported. There will be American experts at his trial in December - Richard Falk, head of the In- loe.AnsyIternational eatetaktoalen possibl ar wSagan wil testify on h ob gation to morality against government They have instituted psychological war- fare to break him down, but he has main- tained a quiet shout with a 35 day hunger strike in February. When they ask him for who did he spy, he answers that he acted as an individual. He went alone to do this in London. He never said he was guilty; he doesn't regret what he did: he still feels he did the right thing. Daily: Why did he feel compelled to do this? Vanunu: What was the need of revela- tion? There were many rumors, within the CIA, saying Israel had 60, 80 warheads. The Washington Post said it had 81 nuclear weapons. In Israeli society there is no opportunity of discussing the issue of nu- clear weapons - the information has been kept from the Israeli public, and the Knesset (Israeli parliament) has no opportunity to discuss it, for a secret group of people manage it all. Mordechai revealed informa- tion to the government as well as the peo- ple. Now there are members of the Knesset who want to meet with Mordechai and raise these issues, but the Security Services says no. The reason is the same as before for not allowing this; if the government knows de- tails they will be able to intervene. The nu- clear lobby works in private. It took an outsider to inform them. His background is important to under- stand his decision. He had studied philoso- phy and geography. He had been part of a political party called "Compus," defending Arab rights and calling for a Palestinian state. He had acted against the Lebanon war and refused to serve in the army; he had pacifist attitudes. He had studied the effects on ecology of nuclear development, acid rain. .. .As a result of all this he went out of Israel to raise these issues, risking his life. He never told his family what he was planning to do. Daily: How has the Israeli press and public responded to your brother's case? Vanunu: The officials have disinformed the public, to put the Israeli people against him. They are presenting him as the worst possible traitor. They have given my brother no voice, and would not initially publish his letters to the press. During the first six months, the whole press establish- ment worked to move away from the nuclear weapons story and focused on only the per- sonal. The Israeli public sentiment is turning more objective. There have been more positive articles in papers in the last three months. The image is changing from a traitor to a man fighting for his ideals. But the public is not yet willing to express this clearly, or develop any real defined ideas of moral obligations concerning nuclear I weapons. Recent investigations of the Shin Beth (Israeli internal security service) of its torturing an Arab man to make a testimony, and revelations about Palestinian killings show that the trust of this department is breaking. These cases, this information wouldn't have been there until recently. Usually in Israel when things are brought to the public, actions are taken to correct things - through a process. There is a severe division of the people between the right and left - maybe more will go left. Daily: What has been the response in this country and the rest of the world? Vanunu: International support has built in the last eight to 10 months, but there is not enough in the United States. The media in the United States doesn't allow enough information to come in, for the pur- pose of not embarassing Israel. In a matter of human rights in Russia there would be lots of noise. Israel is different: it can break human rights laws. It can create the danger of a nuclear arsenal. My brother is now being adopted by anti- nuclear groups. He was nominated by 35 members of the British Parliament for a No- bel Prize in 1988. He has been given awards by peace foundations in Europe. U.S. sup- port though is very important in building anti-nuclear movements. The Middle East is special: it is a high-risk area for nuclear year. The London newspaper, The Guardian, published this statement of my brother's on August 24, 1987. I think it is important to understanding this... ."An act like mine... teaches citizens that their own reasoning is no less important than that of their leaders. Don't follow them blindly on crucial issues like nuclear weapons." Also, in June, 1987, Ha'aretz (a Jerusalem newspaper) printed a letter from my brother, which serves as more explanation. ' "By my action I showed that the individual still has some power in the case of the unlimited power of the estab- lishment. The individual can expose the dark machinations of any regime in the world, in any sphere, by means of civil dis- obedience, for the sake of the general wel- fare." -I Clal equality hat with Ignorance. s you'll -Cornelius D. Harris, like so MSA Minority Affairs LETTERS Color blindness is not ren SAPAC heightens safety LAST WEEK THE Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC) initiated another campaign to inform Ann Arbor residents about the pervasive problem of rape. By canvassing local neighborhoods, the SAPAC volunteers hope to spread the disturbing fact that rape, either di- rectly or indirectly, affects everyone. In addition to consciousness-rais- ing, efforts to increase safety should be reinforced. Since its inception in early 1986, SAPAC has' repeatedly attempted to convey tie facts about rape and its prevention to students. Unfortu- nately, 34,000 students are too many to be reached easily by SAPAC. Ad- ditionally, too many students are un- receptive to SAPAC's message. In the past, SAPAC has tried to spread its message primarily through presentations in the Fishbowl and, more recently, has taken its pitch to individual houses in the Greek sys- tem. Students, however, are often too apathetic to take SAPAC's lessons seriously. SAPAC's novel door-to-door cam- paign will address this problem. Twenty-two SAPAC volunteers will carry pamphlets with important in- hear this message at their own front doors. In switching from large, public presentations to private appeals off- campus, SAPAC has also redirected its focus from the avoidance of ac- quaintance rape to precautions against rape in less familiar circumstances. The volunteers alert students to the fact that the Housing Code requires landlords to provide sturdy windows and door locks for their tenants. Canvassers remind students that assertiveness and awareness are ef- fective deterrents to rape. They add that women should not have to restrict their activities to prevent rape. In- stead, they urge that everyone, not just women, make an effort to prevent rape. This door-to-door effort is one of many steps within the last two years to significantly bolster student's safety. Better campus lighting and new emergency phones have certainly alleviated some fear of walking at night. Safewalk and the Niteowl sys- tem have also contributed much to- ward the movement to "take back the night." With SAPAC volunteers scouring To the Daily: Ignorance. It's incredible that a university supposedly devoted to education could allow the type of ignorance displayed by Mr Kushner in his letter "Racists Shouldn't Accuse Others" (Daily, 11/16/87). Realizing that at the present time there is no form of anti- racist education here, I will do my best to educate you, Mr. Kushner. I think we can agree that it doesn't take being white to be obnoxious. Nevertheless, racism is a power relation and considering who's in power, I believe it is extremely hard, if not impossible, for a minority to be racist. In seeing that UCAR is an anti-racist organization, you assume that it's anti-white. If you would have taken the time to look into the group even on the most basic level, you would see that UCAR is a MULTI- RACIAL organization, meaning white as well as Black and Asian and Hispanic. If the group supported the notion that white equals racist, this would not be possible. You just got an F in Getting Facts Straight 101. You don't see overt racism on this campus because it's become a part of this university just as it's become a part of this country. You are the type of mislead boy who believes that someone must constantly stand in front of you and harass a minority in order we're supposed to ignore this to create more unity? Get real. You also just flunked Harsh Reality 261. The original reason Black organizations formed was because it was the only alternative. We weren't allowed in the all-white Panhellenic Society. Now that we've established our own versions of these societies which have characteristics unique unto themselves, you ask for them to disband to prove that they're not racist. You, who are not a minority, have decided that the racism which your society could not see, even when the Black Greek system was being formed, is now nonexistent because you say so. Why don't you just think about it. How about asking the Panhellenic Society or the Interfraternal Council to disband and unite with the Black Greek Association? Congratulations. You've got an A+ in Double Standards 101. True equality does not lie in ignoring color. To do that would be to ignore the basic fact that this country's forefathers committed genocide, against Native Americans. To do so would be to forget that the railroads that made cross country travel a everyday occurrence for whites were built by Asians, who in turn were treated like dirt. To do so would be to deny the fact that the rock and roll music you listen to so often was created by t. r whnfflrl..t n4f an ..p ivr coffee. Understand tt your kind of attitude end up graduating, many other students, well rounded Deg The Daily welcomes letters from its readers. Bringing in letters on personal computer disk is the fastest way to publish a letter in the Daily. with a ;ree of chair November 17 Zinn 'a J, 1+ r CiV1L Slit . i 2CMIM M I I